German trade surplus widens more than expected in October

The German trade plus increased by £900m in October as drop in imports outweighed a smaller decline in exports, the country's federal statistics office said on Monday.

The trade balance stood at €17.8bn on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, Destatis reported, up from €16.7bn in September and €7.8bn in October 2022.

The consensus estimate was for slightly smaller rise to €17.0bn.

Imports were down 1.2% on the month at €108.6bn, with the decline easing from -1.9% the previous month, but still down 16.3% year-on-year.

Exports fell 0.2% to €126.4bn after a 2.5% fall the previous month, and were down 8.1% year-on-year.

Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the details of Monday's report "paint a picture of overall soft domestic demand".

Imports and exports with other countries in the European Union were both down 1.9% on the month, while exports to non-EU economies were up 2.9% and imports rose 0.8%.

"It’s still early days for Q4, but today’s data suggest that real net exports on goods were off to a strong start to the quarter," Vistesen said.